This invention relates to the field of agriculture wherein farm products are mass produced through growing individual plants spaced over a substantial acreage of land. More particularly, the invention relates to transplanting plant seedlings by utilizing techniques which give improved seedling protection during the early stages of plant growth with resulting higher crop yield and improved quality of the products.
It is well known in farming technology that certain farm products are best produced by carrying out seed germination in nursey beds or seedling flats and, after the plant seedlings have grown sufficiently, transplanting the individual seedlings to spaced locations usually disposed in parallel rows in a field where the plant seedlings are to grow and finally mature. The technique of transplanting seedlings from nursery beds or seedling flats to the field rows is commonly used in growing tomatoes, cabbage, tobacco, rice, celery, watermelons, cantalopes, cucumbers, strawberries, and similar types of row crops.
Various transplanting machines and related equipment have been developed to handle the individual plant seedlings taken from the nursery beds or raised in seedling flats and then planted in the field rows where the plants grow and mature until harvesting of the farm products produced thereby. These transplanting machines frequently employ at least one operator riding on the transplanting unit to individually handle the young plant seedlings taken from nursery beds or seedling flats and implant them to be spaced along the rows in which these plants are to finally grow and mature.
Whereas use of machines of the above referred to type is contemplated in carrying out the transplanting method of the instant invention, the primary benefits of this invention are derived from the techniques utilized and combined in carrying out plant seedling placement and in using the invention components properly interrelated to give desirable and beneficial results. Then, more reliable and consistent seedling survival, stronger and greater plant growth, higher crop yield and greater assurance against young plant damage by reason of wind, insects, rain, blowing sand, frost, etc. can be achieved.
In the agricultural field, the prior art has proposed protecting plant seedlings with a conical or cylindrical tube or bottomless cup, frequently made of paper, that encloses the stem or upper portion of the seedling which projects above the soil surface. Such plant protectors and their use with individual plant seedlings are exemplified in the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Wright, 404,585; Hassel, 1,523,659; and Garcia, 2,062,410. Tierney British Pat. No. 769,696 is also exemplary of this prior art. The use of such prior art protectors has been subject to a serious disadvantage and has never achieved any practical success. Rainfall tends to compact the soil around the protectors which inhibits drainage through the soil of water which falls inside the protectors. The result has been to saturate the young seedling roots causing the plants to "drown".
Further, the development of automatic transplanting machines such as alluded to hereinabove, is exemplified in Martin, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,239 and Huang et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,164. It is recognized that the type transplanting machine approach suggested in these two patents may be readily adapted for utilization in carrying out the transplanting method of this invention. However, there are many types of machines, tractor drawn or self propelled, that may be effectively utilized in carrying out the method of this invention to achieve mass transplanting operations in placing seedlings in field rows.
It also is acknowledged that the prior art recognizes the advantages to be obtained by employing a plastic mulch layer overlying the soil surface along each row in which the spaced seedlings are to be planted. Indeed, the abovementioned Martin, Jr. patent contemplates use of a black plastic mulch sheet with plant seedlings grown and transplanted while contained in peat moss pots being inserted down through the plastic mulch sheet. In Martin, Jr., the peat moss pots are passed through the plastic sheet and into the soil to be disposed beneath such sheet with the top of the cup flush with the sheet.
Further developments in the prior art of planting and growing plants where a plastic film is spread over the area where the crops are to be grown may be found in Bigelow et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,900. In this patent, the plastic sheet may have holes punched or burned in the sheeting through which the plants can emerge incident their growth. This patent teaches utilizing plugs that are punched through the plastic sheet covering the row of soil with the plugs flush with the sheet and accommodating material providing a fertilizer, nutrient, insecticide, etc. to be transferred through the plastic sheet covering the soil and into the soil.
However, none of the teachings of the prior art offer the advantages to be achieved by utilization of the method invention hereinafter described.
It is a principal object of this invention to provide a method for transplanting plant seedlings wherein beneficial and improved results are obtained in protecting the seedlings for their survival during their early growth after transplanting.
It is a further important object of this invention to provide a transplanting method for plant seedlings wherein stronger plant growth is produced with consequent increased quantity and quality of yield from the individual plants once they have matured.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a seedling transplanting method wherein, particularly during the fragile early stages of seedling growth, the normally exposed stem and foliage above the soil surface is protected against excessive rain, wind, frost and other environmental conditions while the entire root formation, as well as the plant stem and foliage, are insulated against excessive exposure to rain water, insects, etc. that might destroy the seedling at or shortly after its planting in the field rows.
The above recited, and other objects of the invention will become apparent upon consideration of the detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention that is described in connection with the accompanying drawing following the Summary of the Invention.